News & Commentary

A parent should be able to put their faith in an officer who is there to keep their children safe, but based on our experience, I am concerned about having police in school. In our case, they did more harm than good.

Our report, "From the Classroom to the Courtroom: A Review of Nebraska's School Police Programs," is in response to intakes received by our office and an increased awareness about the devastating impacts of the school to prison pipeline.

March 13, 2018

Many 16-year-olds spend their birthdays with their family and friends. I spent my 16th birthday this past March trapped in solitary confinement.

The last year was a relentless attack on civil rights and civil liberties emanating from the highest echelons of political power and emboldening state and local leaders to act in ways previously unimaginable.
Nevertheless, we persisted, we resisted, and we achieved important progress.

Students of all colors, races, religions, sexual orientations, genders, and immigration statuses need a quality education.

I was 14 when I moved to the Elkhorn Public Schools district which had a small town feel and was just minutes away from Omaha. Elkhorn High was big enough for opportunities but small enough to where I could stand out. There was only one deterrent: I wondered how a school district with a 98% Caucasian population and a median income of over $75,000--the quintessential conservative community--would react to an openly gay youth.

It sounds cliché, I know. But after nearly a decade of working with youth who have experienced major trauma, I am convinced that The Beatles had it right. We are born to be social creatures, and, like food and water, we need the love and connection formed within human relationships to survive. To serve as my daily reminder of just how important love is, I had a small heart tattooed on my wrist a couple years ago.

When I stood up against random drug testing in my schools, it felt like the right thing to do. I'd been learning about the Constitution and Bill of Rights at school, and it made no sense to me that the very people who were teaching these subjects were also doing something that was so obviously counter to the values we were being taught.